An 81-year-old woman who was dragged along the floor like a "rag doll" in a robbery bid told the court about her shocking ordeal.
The pensioner was injured in the attack but said: "The mental damage this has caused me will last a lot longer than the physical injuries.” Her impact statement was read to Liverpool Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday, May 4) during the sentencing of failed robber David Welsh.
In an extremely unusual move, the 22-year-old relapsed drug addict interrupted court proceedings to tell the judge directly via video link: "I just want to say everything that I have done to his woman and family is absolutely no way acceptable.
READ MORE: Man who kicked woman, 81, interrupts judge to ask for 'maximum sentence'
“I was at the lowest of the low and I couldn’t help myself and I can’t apologise enough to this woman and her family for putting her through so much pain. I’m asking the court if you can give me the maximum sentence for what I have done.”
Welsh, of Vanbrugh Road, Walton, who admitted attempted robbery was jailed for three years and eight months.
His victim wrote in her statement, read to the court by prosecutor Bernice Campbell, how she was attacked in the middle of the afternoon on February 10 this year as she was walking down Priory Road, Anfield on her way home from a shopping trip. She said Welsh tried to steal her handbag, which was wrapped around her body at the time, and “he assaulted me in such a way that my body felt it had been bashed by him.
“The bruises have healed now but I have pain in my right hand and this is still tender. My knees are still recovering and I use my walking stick a lot more to steady myself. I need support from my daughter just to get around.”
She said how she had lived in the area her entire life and lived in her home for almost 50 years, with nothing similar ever happening to her. She said: “I have always had the confidence to go out every day and run my errands.
“Now my confidence is at a low point. I am very nervous now and don’t want to go out on my own. The thought of going out of the front door by myself has made me very wary and anxious that this will happen to me again and next time I won’t be so lucky.
“If it wasn’t for the people in the street that came out to help me then I just dread to think the harm I would have suffered. I haven’t left the house since this incident and that upsets me. I will try and build myself up to go out but not sure how long this will take.
“I was very frightened that day and this should never ever happen again,” she concluded.
During Welsh’s sentencing, the judge heard how after dragging her along the road until she ended up in the road between two cars he repeatedly kicked her when she still bravely refused to hand over her bag.
